LACON – Accused arsonist April S. Durham of Henry got her $200,000 bond cut in half Monday afternoon, but only with numerous conditions attached by a judge who said he hesitated to take the step even then.

“I’ll cut her bail in half to $100,000, and I’m reluctant to do that,” Circuit Judge Thomas Keith said during a hearing in Marshall County Circuit Court. “One of the problems I have here is that Ms. Durham has made it known that she doesn’t show up when the court tells her to show up.”

Durham, 36, was indicted last Tuesday for allegedly setting the April 11 fire that destroyed her home at 1003 Front St. in an insurance scheme, and she had been in the county jail since turning herself in on Saturday.

Defense attorney Kevin Sullivan of Peoria asked that her bond be reduced to $50,000, which would require posting $5,000 in cash. He told Keith that he was sure she would stay in the area and make required court appearances, partly because failing to do so could jeopardize the insurance claim that she’s trying to get processed.

“She and her family are working people. They simply don’t have the money” to post the $20,000 that would be required under the original bond, Sullivan said.

But State’s Attorney Paul Bauer pointed out that Durham has a well-documented history of missing court-ordered appearances in a long-running probate case in which her handling of funds for her two children, aged 16 and 14, has been questioned. She has been administering money that they received through their father’s death while he was in the armed forces several years ago.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Sullivan does not know his client as well as this court does. The (probate) judge has found her in contempt,” Bauer said. “There have been judgment orders against her for misuse of funds.”

As a condition of the lower bond, Keith ordered that she have no access to any of the estate funds. Her father, Mike Durham of Sparland, was recently named executor of that estate because of the criminal case, Sullivan said.

Keith also ordered Durham to sign a waiver of extradition, to be equipped with a GPS monitor, and to stay within Marshall and Peoria Counties unless authorized to go elsewhere by the probation office. She and her children have been living in an insurance-paid apartment in Far North Peoria since the fire, Sullivan said, though a sister has had the children the past few days.

“Failure to comply with any of these probation terms could lead to revocation of your probation,” Keith told Durham.

After meeting with Durham and the probation office following the hearing, Sullivan said he expected her to be able to post the $10,000 bail and be fitted with the monitor Tuesday morning.